Police have identified 27-year-old O'Bryan Raphael Spikes as the man killed in the Cincinnati nightclub shooting. Spikes was shot along with 15 others during chaotic scenes on Sunday (26 March) when a row between club-goers escalated into a gunfight at Cameo nightclub.

"Motive is still unclear but there are no indications this incident is terrorism-related," Cincinnati assistant police chief Paul Neudigate tweeted.

"The bar was very crowded, approximately a couple of hundred people," Isaac said, according to WLWT. "Several local men got into some type of a dispute inside the bar and it escalated into shots being fired by several individuals."

Isaac said that "several firearms were able to be brought inside the bar".

Though club patrons are said to have to pass through a metal detector on the way in, one of them, Sherell Johnson, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that there was no detector or handheld wand used when she went to Cameo at 12.30am.

"[A security guard] was just taking money. He wasn't patting them down [for weapons]," Johnson said. "He was just accepting the money, telling people, this is the no-wait line. They were paying $40 to $60 to get in that line."

The popular nightclub was filled on Saturday night and early Sunday when at least 20 shots rang out during a confrontation between two groups.

"It was a chaotic scene," Sgt Eric Franz said. "The club was completely packed."

"This is a tragedy that has struck other communities, and now it has struck Cincinnati," Mayor John Cranley said. "I'm confident that while our hearts are broken our spirit is not."

$10,000 reward

He urged anyone with information about the shooting to come forward. Restaurateur Jeff Ruby is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the shooting death.

"We can't let the bad guys win," the mayor said. "We can't let the evil [people] who pull out a gun in a crowded club and start shooting innocent people to not be punished for their crimes.

"You have innocent people shot, just for going out to have a good time. That's totally unacceptable. It's totally evil."

According to the Post, Spikes lived in the Winton Hills neighbourhood of Cincinnati and leaves three children.